• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.140-144
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• 2009

Clinical laboratory testing plays a crucial role in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. Clinical laboratory scientists evaluate test results, develop and modify procedures, and establish and monitor programs, to ensure the accuracy of tests. It is clear that over the past decade the role of the clinical laboratory scientists has expanded and this process will be continued into the future. The purpose of this study is to clarify the factors influencing the job performance of clinical laboratory scientists and aim to provide the role and duties of clinical laboratory scientists. To examine the frequency of work context and the importance of task, the surveys were conducted on 168 clinical laboratory scientists. The questionnaire items were used 10 score by Likert scale. According to the results of this study, the important factor affecting the job performance was "Analyze laboratory findings to check the accuracy of the results", and the next factors were "Establish and monitor quality assurance programs", "Enter data from analyzer into computer", "Calibrate and maintain equipment". And the factors of "repeating same tasks" and "spend time making repetitive motions" were answered the highest. This study will provide strategies for improving work environment, developing education curriculum and method, and role of clinical laboratory scientists. We must continually upgrade our knowledge, and identify the new trends in technology and science and accept changes.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.164-169
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• 2007

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.111-117
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to provide the basic guidelines of spatial and physical environment for the planning and design of clinical laboratory by analysing the extent of satisfaction of clinical laboratory scientists. The data for this analysis was gathered from March to May 2005 by the questionnaires of 208 clinical laboratory scientists who work in the 13 hospitals. All the collected data was analyzed by the SPSSWIN program. In this study, the satisfaction measurement tool was composed with 8 items and 5 score scale. The mean score of satisfaction for spatial and physical environment was 2.89 out of 5.0, "noise" was the lowest 2.40, "temperature and moisture of the lab." was 2.72, "lab. area, service area and administration area" was 2.77, "passageway space" was 2.94, circulation of workers was 2.94, "color of finish" was 3.19, "lighting of lab." was the highest 3.39. In conclusion, various factors, noise, temperature and moisture, clinical lab area, were evaluated to moderate dissatisfaction. Noise was especially the first serious problem in clinical lab. Considering the high growth of the number of tests, the planning of the clinical laboratory size should be considered not only to provide the optimal size but how it will correspond to the growth of the number of tests. Therefore the arrangement of each section need to be flexible in arrangement which is inevitable in expansion and reconstruction in the future.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.71-81
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• 2023

This study examined the transition process of clinical laboratory technologists' national examination and job definition in Korea and compared the differences in the national examination between Korea and neighboring countries, such as Japan and Taiwan. In Korea, the number of questions made for it was 200 (1965), 200 (1977), 300 (1982), 250 (1992), 330 (2006), and 280 (2015). The practice of clinical physiology is important for real-time monitoring, given the characteristics of physiological testing. On the other hand, there are conflicts between other occupations in the working area. Clinical molecular biology needs to be established as a new major subject considering the diagnostic importance of molecular biological tests and the speed of science and technology development. Clinical laboratory operations provide policy and guidance recommendations to technologist staff. The proposed clinical laboratory technologists' national examination comprises major subjects: clinical biochemistry, clinical hematology, clinical transfusionology, clinical immunology, clinical microbiology, clinical molecular biology, clinical histology, clinical cytology, clinical physiology, and clinical laboratory operations. In addition, this study proposes the job definition of clinical laboratory technologists, revising various chemical or physiological testing to biomedical or physiological testing required for medical practice.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.195-199
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• 2022

The use of copper antibacterial films as an effective infection prevention method is increasing owing to its ability to reduce the risk of pathogen transmission. In this study, we evaluated the bacterial contamination of the antibacterial copper membrane attached to a door handle at a university over time. Six mounting locations with high floating population were selected. In three sites, the door handles with the antibacterial film were exposed, while the remaining three were not attached with the antibacterial films. On days 7 and 14, isolated bacterial strains were inoculated in BHI broth and agar, respectively. Colony-forming units (CFU) were determined after incubation. Strain identification was performed using bacterial 16s rRNA PCR and sequencing. Results showed that the bacterial population on day 14 significantly increased from 6 × 10⁹ CFU/mL (day 7) to 2 × 10¹⁰ CFU/mL. Furthermore, strain distribution was not different between the on and off the copper antibacterial film groups. In conclusion, although copper has an antibacterial activity, microbial contamination may occur with prolonged use.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to find terms that can give identity to the major and occupation of clinical laboratory technologist (also known as medical technologist). The term clinical pathology includes all branches of pathology, namely anatomical pathology, chemical pathology, hematology, microbiology, and all respective subspecialties. Unfortunately, several countries exclude anatomical pathology from the term clinical pathology, a problem that gets compounded when the title is translated into languages other than English. Clinical pathology (US, UK) is a medical specialty. Similar terms are laboratory medicine (Germany, Poland), medical/clinical biology (France, Netherlands) or clinical analysis (Spain). Depending on the person questioned, medical technology is defined slightly differently by individuals, companies, and institutions. The definition also depends on the language in which the question is asked. Medical technology can be translated to define clinical laboratory technology, allied health sciences, medical equipment, biomedical engineering, and health technology. The terms 'clinical pathology technology and pathological technology' are not used in allied health sciences. The names of 'medical technology·medical technologist' can be replaced by 'biomedical laboratory science·biomedical laboratory technologist' or 'clinical laboratory analysis·clinical laboratory analyst'. In this study, it is proposed to change the name of academic and occupation to 'medical biology·medical biology technologist' that combines the term biomedical.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.306-318
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• 2022

Gastric cancer (GC) is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Thus, early diagnosis is important to improve disease prognosis. Endoscopic assessment represents the most reliable imaging method for GC diagnosis; however, it is semi-invasive and costly and heavily depends on the skills of the endoscopist, which limit its clinical applicability. Therefore, the search for new sensitive biomarkers for the early detection of GC using noninvasive sampling collection methods has attracted much attention among scientists. Urine is considered an ideal biofluid, as it is readily accessible, less complex, and relatively stable than plasma and serum. Over the years, substantial progress has been made in screening for potential urinary biomarkers for GC. This review explores the possible applications and limitations of urinary biomarkers in GC detection and diagnosis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.191-195
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to evaluate different methods for Trichomonas vaginalis diagnosis during pregnancy in order to prevent maternal and perinatal complications. A total of 386 vaginal exudates from pregnant women were analyzed. T. vaginalis was investigated by 3 types of microscopic examinations direct wet mount with physiologic saline solution, prolonged May-Grunwald Giemsa (MGG) staining, and wet mount with sodium-acetate-formalin (SAF)/methylene blue method. PCR for 18S rRNA gene as well as culture in liquid medium were performed. The sensitivity and specificity of the microscopic examinations were evaluated considering the culture media positivity or the PCR techniques as gold standard. The frequency of T. vaginalis infection was 6.2% by culture and/or PCR, 5.2% by PCR, 4.7% by culture, 3.1% by SAF/methylene blue method and 2.8% by direct wet smear and prolonged MGG staining. The sensitivities were 83.3%, 75.0%, 50.0%, and 45.8% for PCR, culture, SAF/methylene blue method, and direct wet smear-prolonged MGG staining, respectively. The specificity was 100% for all the assessed methods. Microscopic examinations showed low sensitivity, mainly in asymptomatic pregnant patients. It is necessary to improve the detection of T. vaginalis using combined methods providing higher sensitivity, such as culture and PCR, mainly in asymptomatic pregnant patients, in order to prevent maternal and perinatal complications.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.233-238
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• 2004

This study was conducted to investigate an attitude related to clinical laboratory science students' clinical practice. Data for this analysis was gathered from March to May, 2004 by the questionnaires of 348 students who are in their third year in 5 colleges and have experienced clinical practice. The students were satisfied with the term of clinical practice (70.4%) and the first factor influencing them in clinical practice was sincerity (45.1%), and the second was basic knowledge (19.8%). In the contents of clinical practice, 53.2% were satisfied but 43.3% of them showed negative responses because their practice was limited and they were simply assistants. 74.1% were satisfied after experiencing clinical practice and the first factor was improvement of understanding and interest in their major (65.9%) and the second was the gain of confidence (20.1%). Among anxieties in the clinical practice, a shortage of self-confidence (47.7%) was the highest. 81.3% of them wanted to maintain medical technologist's life continuously. It appeared that the more satisfied with their major, the more satisfied with the clinical practice (p<0.05). As a result, the students were satisfied with the clinical practice and fresh experience generally. But they were relatively unsatisfied with the practicality, and connection with the lecture. As a part of efforts to formulate an effective system for clinical practice, it is necessary to establish concrete goals and detail check lists to guide these students among professors, trainers and students.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.574-581
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• 2023

Nocardiosis is an uncommon opportunistic bacterial infection which becomes a significant health problem due to its increasing incidence and high mortality rate. However, many nocardiosis patients are underdiagnosed by physicians. To summarize the clinical characteristics and management of nocardiosis would help with better diagnosis and prognosis of nocardiosis. This retrospective study was conducted based on the medical records of nocardiosis patients between January 2015 and December 2021 in a tertiary hospital in China. Overall, 44 nocardiosis patients with 54 specimens were included. The patients consisted of 26 males and 18 females with a mean age of 50.4 ± 13.2 years. Among 44 patients, 26 (59.1%) were previously given immunosuppressive therapy. Connective tissue diseases (CTDs) were the most common underlying disease (16/44). The most frequent infection sites were the lungs (17/44) and skin or soft tissues (8/44). Common symptoms included cough (23/44), expectoration (18/44), fever (15/44), and subcutaneous abscesses (15/44). Forty-five out of 54 specimens (83.3%) required over 48 hours of culture time for nocardiosis detection. Thirty-six patients were cured or improved, 5 patients were discharged from the hospital due to poor prognosis, and 1 patient died. The average diagnosis time of poor prognosis cases was 19.7 days, which was significantly longer than those of improved or cured patients (7.3 days). Immunosuppressed patients comprise a large part of nocardiosis cases, which is worth attention in clinical practice. Early diagnosis, specifically through prolonged cultivation time of specimen, could help achieve better prognosis of nocardiosis patients.